I Am Always Here: Dara’s Mission to Protect People from HIV

24 June 2026

It’s nighttime in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A mobile van that offers HIV testing and other health services idles discreetly at the edge of a park in Koh Pich.
Sok Dara (name changed for privacy) supervises a group of colleagues who do outreach work with the mobile van and canvas the surrounding area.

Inside the van, clients can collect condoms and HIV self-tests, and they can get information about HIV prevention, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Members of the outreach team can also conduct finger-prick rapid diagnostic tests that screen for HIV and syphilis at the same time. If the test is reactive, the client will be referred for further testing at a clinic, ideally the very next morning.

“We have HIV self-tests and HIV rapid tests,” says Dara. “We give them the choice. Then they can choose which option works best for them.”

And Dara is personally committed to the cause. His own phone number is neatly printed on the side of the mobile van, and he makes himself available to answer calls and messages at all hours of the day.

When asked how many messages he receives each week, he says : “A lot.”

“I am always here,” he says with a smile.

Cambodia has made huge progress towards ending AIDS thanks to strong leadership and effective programs, like Dara’s, that are specifically designed for people who are most at risk for HIV infection. This month, Cambodia achieved the global 95–95–95 HIV targets, becoming the very first country in Asia-Pacific to reach this groundbreaking milestone in the fight to end AIDS. The 95–95–95 targets mean that 95% of people living with HIV know their status, 95% of people who know their HIV-positive status are receiving antiretroviral treatment, and 95% of people on treatment have achieved viral suppression.